About

BIOGRAPHY

Ashley John Long is a virtuoso double bassist and composer active in a diverse range of musical idioms including Jazz and Improvisation, Session Music, Early and Contemporary Chamber Music, and as a Soloist.Since graduating from the RWCMD in 2008 he has maintained a busy and varied freelance career which has encompassed many strands. ​He has performed and recorded internationally with some of the UK's leading Jazz musicians, as well as accompanying visiting international artists, whilst his work as a soloist has seen the premiers of numerous new works for solo bass.He toured in 2008 with French double bassist Louis-Michel Marion in a series of recitals featuring music by Xenakis, Bussotti, Scelsi and Barry Guy. Over 20 composers have written new works for him and has had performances broadcast on television and radio throughout the U.K and Europe.

A virtuoso improviser, Ash has developed a unique approach to the instrument, creating innovative new performance techniques including methods of preparing the bass and performed and recorded with some of the genre's leading players and released a solo disc Psi on FMR in 2017.

His work in the orchestral world has taken in everything from Gabrielli to Stockhausen and he has performed as principal double bass with various ensembles, as well as playing a great deal of chamber music.

From 2012-14 Ash toured the world with Nofit State Circus' critically acclaimed show Bianco out of which grew his collaboration with Gareth Jones, resulting in the A Place to Start EP by Fireproof Giant.

As a composer, Ash has carved a niche as a creator of innovative scores that balance fine detail with freedom and flexibility whilst retaining a strong melodic sense. Recent commissions have been acclaimed for their original and inventive writing including: Flux (2006) and Hevelspending (2010) for the Lunar Saxophone Quartet, Songs of the Night (2007) for Joel Garthwaite, and XAS(2008) for himself and Louis-Michel Marion and Dance Miniatures (2013) for the Syzygy Saxophone Quartet and Shelter (2015) and Peacekeeping (2017), chamber operas for Asking4it productions. He has also taught composition workshops for Arts Active in Jazz composition and led school based composition projects resulting in the orchestral works The Island (2017) and Prometheus (2018).2018-2019 sees him working on the London Philharmonic Orchestra's young composers scheme.

He also works as an educator and has taught at Cardiff University, The University of Glamorgan; given masterclasses at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, County Wexford School of Music (Ireland) and MusicTime School (Milan, Italy); and acted as an orchestra sectional and Mini Bass projects tutor for Gwent Music.

He was awarded a PhD scholarship by Cardiff University in 2015 where he is undertaking research into contemporary performance practice and composition.

Ashley is a D'Addario Performing Artist and uses Zyex and Helicore bass strings.

Press Quotations and Testimonials

"Long, as elsewhere, was given room to exploit the phenomenal dexterity for which he’s renowned and which makes him, in my book, one of Europe’s leading practitioners."​Art Scene In Wales

"Ashley-John Long is the most pronounced voice throughout the album — his terrific technique is asserted in creative ways without upsetting the balance of the quartet. His soloing is pretty jaw-dropping throughout. "Listomania Bath

“Long has developed into the kind of musician who makes bass solos interesting, he is a supremely imaginative player and a phenomenal technician. The previous week I’d seen him at the Queens Head in Monmouth ...he turned in some brilliant solos then and did so again now combining boundless imagination with jaw dropping technical skill.”The Jazzmann

"His arco work is quite superb."Jazz Journal

"Long’s score veers from the tranquil to the tempestuous, before leading us to a troubled, smoothly discordant resolution."British Theatre Guide

“Right at the cutting edge.”BBC Wales

“Phenomenal Welsh bassist Ashley-John Long – a unique voice on his instrument.”Wexford Arts

“Ashley-John Long is a pretty incredible performer yeah; it’s like he has so much music in him that it just bursts out like steam from a pressure cooker”Fourier Transform ​

“Ashley John Long was often a manic presence, contorting himself around his bass.”Ears for Eyes

“Flux by Ashley John Long, uses complex mathematical equations to derive its musical materials, and the result is a magical texture of static intervals and delicate acoustic beating”Radio New Zealand

“Plenty of verve and energy propels Ashley John Long’s rather diffuse Hevelspending.”Gramophone

"[Shelter] is complex, intricate, at times densely textured and percussive with passages of purity of sound echoing Bach."​Theatre Wales

“Big toned bassist”Jazzwise

“There is much to admire here, particularly the work of Ashley-John Long on bass”​Western Mail